Gardening Calendar: January

Weather

Snow and ice, with outdoor jobs at a standstill; all hands busy in the potting shed, preparing seed boxes and composts, oiling and sharpening tools. Or, if a mild spell occurs, work on paths, fences, pergolas, and screens. Beware of the temptation to move plants: roots dislike disturbance when frosts are about, and January weather is treacherous.

January Work

Turn over vacant soil.

Bastard trench vegetable plots if weather permits, and if this has not been done already.

Apart from the usual seeds, make a note to tryout one or two new or unusual varieties-Golden Wonder potato for its flavour, alpine strawberries, or the Para­mount sugar pea. A practical novelty or two will give additional interest to your garden.

Food Plots

Thoroughly prepare food plots by single or double digging, ridging, and liming. Annual dressings of lime are better than very heavy dressings once in three years.

Set seed potatoes to sprout, rose end up in shallow trays, in a light, frost-proof place.

Plan the plot for sowing; order seeds. Order sufficient seeds for the season, but sow only a part at a time, so that crops are raised in succession.

Plan for a rotation of crops; no ground should lie idle for any great length at time, particularly in spring and summer.

If a warm sheltered plot is available, the first sowing of the year-a row of broad beans-can be made.

One Response to Gardening Calendar: January

The view regarding the pruning of plums has changed now and this is the advice from the RHS.

Avoid pruning plums in winter, as it increases the risk of infection by silver leaf disease to which plums and other Prunus species are prone. The best time for pruning is usually spring for young trees and mid-summer for established ones.